Doctor Who premiere scores big ratings for BBC America

River Song (Alex Kingston), Rory (Arthur Darvill), The Doctor (Matt Smith), and Amy Pond (Karen Gillan) in the "Doctor Who" series 6 premiere.

BBC America has announced that the premiere of series six of “Doctor Who” delivered the highest ever Live + Same Day ratings for BBC America.  Announced today, the figures indicate almost 1.8 million viewers tuned in for “The Impossible Astronaut.”

The anticipated episode “The Doctor’s Wife,” written by Neil Gaiman (Coraline, The Sandman) airs this Saturday on BBC America.

- Matt Price
Click past the cut for the full news release.

New York – May 9, 2011- The all new season of sci-fi hit Doctor Who, which premiered on Saturday, April 23, delivered BBC AMERICA its highest-rated, most-watched telecast ever in Live + Same Day with almost 1.3 million viewers. Announced today, the Live + 7 Day figure elevates the total to 1.8* million viewers. This is up 20% from last season’s premiere in Live + 7 Day.

On the heels of the successful launch, NBC News’ Today co-anchor Meredith Vieira’s visit to the set of Doctor Who aired this morning on the program. Meredith spoke with stars Matt Smith and Alex Kingston and filmed a scene that will be featured later this season on Doctor Who. The full feature is available to watch at Today.com http://on.today.com/kLbk8R.